Middle East

First Abu Dhabi Bank raised $650m with its market return on Monday, as Gulf Corporation Council financial supply continued with Union National Bank.

The Commercial Bank of Qatar debuted in Swiss francs on Tuesday, selling three year bonds to ‘the who’s who’ of the Swiss franc bond market, according to a banker on the deal. CBQ’s trade is the best illustration yet of Swiss investors growing more comfortable with Middle Eastern financial credit.

After a three week wait, First Abu Dhabi Bank has deemed the market constructive enough to open books on its new five year sukuk, and had crushed the spread to 4bp over its existing bonds on Monday.

Dubai's Mashreqbank is adding a deal for Nigeria's Access Bank to the string of loans to African financial institutions it has arranged.

Saudi Arabia’s debt markets are open for business, the hiring charge is on and foreign banks are flooding in, but there has been a struggle to build a local force of primary bond market bankers, boding ill for the capital markets expansion the country is hoping for.

Albaraka Turk broke new ground last week it has emerged, issuing the first ever Basel III-compliant additional tier one (AT1) from Turkey in a private placement. The deal has set a structuring template for future Turkish AT1 issuance, and has sparked interest among those looking to bring the next, possibly public benchmark, deal, writes Virginia Furness.

QInvest’s head of debt capital market and financial institutions has left the bank earlier this week.

The Republic of Turkey is preparing to issue its first Panda bond by the end of the year, having mandated three banks to handle the deal.

Ziraat Bank launched a $1bn loan to refinance a facility signed in April last year, with pricing in line with Turkish peer Akbank’s new loan.

A Turkish military strike in Syria on Tuesday hit investor appetite for Akbank’s subordinated tier two offering, with the raid causing several accounts not to come into the book at all, according to a lead manager.

Albaraka Turk scored a solid first last week when it issued Turkey’s first Basel III compliant additional tier one bond, but while this marks progress, it will take one of the country’s larger banks to establish a true benchmark.

It could be a clash of the Abu Dhabi banking titans as Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank is updating its MTN programme — a possible precursor to a bond issue — while First Abu Dhabi Bank is poised with a trade.